I just finished this debate: http://www.debate.org... I essentially arguing if the Jewish God exists. In my research I found from Jewish Scholars that there's a lot of Egyptian influence in Jewish dogma. The debate has the real details/sources but the short of it is a group is a smaller band of Israelis named the Levites (Moses's Tribe) left Egypt and returned to unite all of Israel Proper; they were more militaristic than the Israelis living there at the time, so they controlled the preasit hood. The story of the plagues is taken right from the curses against Aten - the monotheistic God of the Heretic Pharaoh. And much more examples! It's a dense read but worth it!